In a multi-user, real-time, and situation-based learning environment, the availability of enough and appropriate situations is crucial for success. In order to improve effectiveness and efficiency of learning, we develop a new type of pedagogical agent: situation creator. Such an agent intentionally creates specific situations in the shared virtual driving place according to users’ performance ...

Questioning is a core component of formal pedagogy. Parents commonly question children, but do they use questions to teach? Research has shown that informal pedagogical situations elicit stronger inferences than the same evidence observed in nonpedagogical situations. Certain questions (“pedagogical questions”) have similar features. We investigate the frequency and distribution of pedagogical ...

In this study we explored the impact of student versus tutor pedagogical decision-making on learning. More specifically, we examined what would happen if we let students decide how to handle the next task: to view it as a worked example or to solve it as a problem solving. We examined this impact at two levels of task granularity: problem vs. step. This 2× 2 study was conducted on an existing I...

We examine how the University of Colorado at Boulder has created the sustained the use of a research-based curriculum in the introductory calculus-based physics sequence, despite the significant increases in cost and time commitment. The adoption of the University of Washington Tutorials in Introductory Physics [1] curriculum required significant pedagogical shifts in the students’ role, educat...

Serious educational games (SEGs) are a growing segment of the education community’s pedagogical toolbox. Effectively creating such games remains challenging, as teachers and industry trainers are content experts; typically they are not game designers with the theoretical knowledge and practical experience needed to create a quality SEG. Here, a lightweight approach to interactively explore and ...

This paper describes the Mediating Agent, an animated pedagogical agent inserted in a computational system for distance learning, which has the goal of motivating the student to learn as well as promoting a positive mood in the student, which is more appropriate to learning. In order to accomplish its function, the agent should recognize the student’s emotions to respond appropriately. Thus, it...

This study presents Quantitative Field Observations (QFOs) of educationally relevant affect and behavior among students at three schools using Reasoning Mind, a game-based software system designed to teach elementary-level mathematics. High levels of engagement are observed. Possible causes for these high levels of engagement are considered, including the interactive pedagogical agent and other...

The Bologna Process changes the educational paradigm, to be focus on the student and in the learning outcomes. The majority of e-learning platforms are used as mere repositories of content, based on the classroom paradigm and don’t support the individualism of each student learning process. Through the integration of new pedagogical methodologies based on students learning styles, we present an...

A well-established effect of animated agents in educational and other contexts is their potential to motivate and engage. “Increased motivation in users” is also one of the more frequent answers given to the question, “What is gained by adding an animated pedagogical agent to an intelligent tutoring system?” To further develop and exploit this potential, there are, however, several issues that ...

Blended learning involves the combination of two fields of concern: education and educational technology. To gain the scholarly recognition from educationists, it is necessary to revisit its models and educational theory underpinned. This paper respond to this issue by reviewing models related to blended learning based on two prominent educational theorists, Maslow’s and Vygotsky’s view. Four m...